Opening A Window

In every discussion, in every debate, in every conversation there’s always a voice less heard. It could be a subtext overlooked branching-off a well constructed argument, a subtlety of a claim lost in the heat of discussion, or just the weaker voice of the person speaking from the corner.

The many debates about Israel often seem two-sided: Israel and supporters vs. the rest of the world. What people around the world seldom hear is the voice of Israelis. They hear Israel’s formal and informal representatives and the Israeli government’s official standpoint. The resolution of inner-Israeli debate is missing in that account, because it’s deemed by the media to be too specific. And to an extent, it’s a fair judgment. However, such inner debate exists, and is valuable enough to be heard.

I’ve been keeping a Hebrew blog about Israeli current events from my perspective for two years now. I’ve been using it to promote the ideas I believe in, and to try and make a difference. I see Israel not only through the filter of reporters and cameras, but through the pane of my window. I live, study and work in a place that most people only ever get to see through mediation. I speak the language, I read the newspapers, I elect the politicians that later on go on CNN and talk about some aspect of the Arab-Israeli conflict. And with every day that goes by, I’m growing more and more afraid that the democracy I grew up in slowly, silently crumbles.

My opinions, as well as the opinions of the other members and writers in this blog, are in minority. The dovish left wing of Israeli politics was defeated in the recent elections. Every party I can somehow identify with or root for either lost more than a few of seats in the Knesset (The Israeli parliament), kept its small size, or didn’t make the electoral threshold of 2%.

Israeli society, I believe, is changing. It’s becoming more and more violent, xenophobic and intolerant. In such an atmosphere, it is increasingly important to voice the different opinion. This is what I’m doing with my Hebrew blog: trying to hold up a mirror against my society’s growing collective brutalization, criticize it, deal with current events and make a difference.

For a while now I’ve felt that this sort of reflection is not enough. That some of the things I regularly debate about should be made known to anyone who has any interest in Israel, that these current events should be dealt with, analyzed and discussed as a part of the many ongoing arguments about Israel and Israeli politics. That my voice, and the voices of others who feel like me, can be of international interest and should be heard not only within the confinement of inner-Israeli discussion. But I couldn’t hope to find the time to keep two blogs, and I certainly will not give up on the Hebrew one.

And one day I sent a shout out to those interested in such a project, and I was fortunate enough to be answered by some of the best Israeli political bloggers. In the process of setting up this blog, my idea became our blog; a true group blog, of which every aspect was decided upon by the group of members.

It’s safe to assume that a variety of opinions will be presented here around every subject. It’s quite seldom for the members of this blog to be in complete agreement with each other. We all locate ourselves politically in Israeli dovish left, and we are all Israeli citizens, but that’s more or less where the resemblance ends. Nonetheless, no matter how many (at times contradicting) views you read here, keep this in mind: You are listening to the voices less heard. Those are often the most interesting of them all.

Welcome.